Does Your Business Need Twitter?

Over the years, social media has certainly proven itself as an excellent marketing tool. Whether you’re sharing pictures, updates, or new products, it’s a great way to reach a bunch of people at once, relatively cheaply (and sometimes for free)!

One of the many options for social media marketing is Twitter. With over 330 million active monthly users and 24 percent of all U.S. adults on Twitter, it can be an extremely valuable marketing tool.

A little different than other social platforms, Twitter is unique in that each post, or “tweet”, is limited to just 280 characters. While this may seem limiting, it’s actually a great way to deliver short, concise messages to your clients that they’re much more likely to read than they would be if presented with a long, several-paragraph post.

Whether or not you know it, your business can probably benefit from Twitter marketing. If you’re still unconvinced, read on to learn more about how Twitter marketing works, as well as it’s pros/cons/benefits, etc.

What is Twitter Marketing

The term “twitter marketing” makes it sound a little more complicated than it is. Simply put, marketing on Twitter is the act of signing your company up for a Twitter account and using that account to reach current and prospective customers.

At the end of the day, Twitter is an opportunity to humanize your company, since it’s a little more relaxed and casual than other social media platforms are. You can make Twitter marketing whatever you want it to be. Share pictures of new products, engage with customers, and easily, quickly clean up a PR mistake - the options are endless. There are very few situations that it’s inappropriate to use Twitter for, unlike LinkedIn, for example.

What Kinds of Companies Benefit from Using Twitter?

The short answer is: most of them. The whole goal is to reach your target market, so as long as your target demographic is using twitter, it’s going to be beneficial for you to have. The only real scenario in which Twitter may not be beneficial for your company is if you can’t really reach your specific customers there.

For example, let’s say you sell products that generally appeal to the 80-years-old-and-up crowd. You might find a few of your customers on Twitter, but you aren’t likely to find very many. That said, you may be able to reach your secondary audience there. In this situation, the secondary audience would be the children of your target demographic, along with doctors, nurses, or caretakers, who are much more likely to be on Twitter, engage with your brand, and recommend your products to (or use them to help) your target audience. See what we mean? Twitter is almost always useful.

How Do You Use Twitter for Marketing?

Using Twitter to market your company takes a little bit of setup. First, you need an account, and then you need some graphics to use for your profile and cover photos. For businesses, it’s best to use high-quality imagery that has been created especially for you by a professional graphic designer.

Next, you have to figure out what your voice is going to be. Your “social media voice” is a virtual representation of your brand, and it should reflect your company’s overall values, beliefs, and tone. Finally, you need to create a content calendar with detailed information on the topics you want to tweet about, the content of each tweet, and the images you want to share.

If this sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. A lot of research goes into how to effectively market on Twitter and what kinds of content should be posted for any given brand. That’s why many companies choose to seek the help of a marketing agency that specializes in all kinds of social media marketing, including Twitter.

Why is Twitter a Good Marketing Tool?

The list of things that Twitter can do for your company is virtually endless. Ok, it’s not endless, but it is really, really long. Take a look at some of the reasons your business should use Twitter:

• It’s free to sign up for.
• You can easily build awareness of your brand and products.
• Twitter’s link preview feature makes it easy to share links to articles and products that will drive website traffic, new leads, and sales.
• You can easily talk back and forth with customers, making it a whole new way to handle customer service and potentially reduce your own customer support costs.
• It’s easy to follow, and keep an eye on, what your competition is up to.
• Twitter is perfect for sharing images and gifs.
• You can connect with social media influencers who can endorse your brand and help you gain new followers.
• You also have the option of using polls, ads, and promoted tweets to reach your target audience.
• You can have one account for your whole company or create multiple accounts for individual store locations.
• You can quickly address issues or concerns before they get out of hand (think bad customer service interactions, food poisoning, recalled products, etc.)
• It’s an extension of the brand you’ve worked so hard to build.
• You can use analytics to time posts so they’ll be seen by the right people at the right time.
• Hashtags offer a unique way to stay in touch with your industry and find new content and sources to share/use.

Downsides of Twitter

As with anything, there are a couple of cons to marketing on Twitter. Thankfully, these disadvantages are easy to overcome and should not dissuade you from marketing on Twitter at all:

• If your company is tagged in a negative tweet, and you don’t address it quickly enough, it could spread around the internet and do a lot of damage.
• The character limit makes it a little more challenging to write posts and share content.
• Tweets will reach the majority of their engagement potential in just three hours, so you need to make sure you’re timing your posts for maximum engagement.

Whether you’re a clothing company or a law enforcement agency, chances are you can reap huge benefits from using Twitter. If you need help getting started, or want to revamp a Twitter marketing plan that isn’t working out so well, BlueTone Media has all the resources you need to get things rolling.

We can help you set up a new account, or revive an old one, and make sure that your bio/profile is complete. We’ll advise you on picking the perfect Twitter handle and can design brand new profile photos, cover photos, and ads that are in line with your company’s branding. We can even help you apply for verification if you’re trying to get that coveted blue checkmark!

You’re just a click away from the best tweets you’ve ever read. Get in touch with us by clicking here or by calling us at 888-258-8663.